Believe!

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Repent and trust in Jesus! I’m not saying to trust in some pretty picture of how an artist thought He looked, or a movie about Him that makes a lot of mistakes, but in Jesus Himself, as He is, as He is revealed in the Bible!

The Bible gets a lot of bad press. It’s an easy thing to mock, to talk about “Bible thumpers” and other things like that. But truly, He came to die for us, to reconcile us to His Father. We needed Him to do this for us, for we all have sinned, deserve to die, and have no way to make it right with God – no way to repay Him.

But Jesus accomplished what He came to do, and one day He will return. If you mock the idea of His return, because it is so long since He walked the earth, and because foolish or wicked people keep prophesying falsely about this, you need to remember what He said about it, and believe it:

Matthew 24:44

44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

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Here is what the Old Testament – The Jewish Tanakh – says about His death on our behalf:

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Isaiah 53

King James Version

53 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

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Here is what the Christian New Testament says about it:

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1 Corinthians 15

King James Version

15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

(written by the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit)

9 thoughts on “Believe!”

Isn’t that the truth? Reminds me of that first rascal Adam, who pretty much ‘hid as it were,’ his face from God.
Adam, Where art thou? -Hiding Lord, hiding from thee-.Yes, that distance creator sin, makes people hide.

So God specializes in the lost and found department. But He only asks that people come out of hiding, and admit they were once lost, and also blind.

And your twin scriptures are par excellence. There is nothing like the solid testimony of scripture.How many souls were brought to faith by Is. 53? The Ethiopian comes to mind immediately.

Maria:
Is. 53 could occupy our attention for a long time, as it should.
Well done and thank God for His written and Living word.

Yes, thank God for His written and living Word! And, yes, Isaiah 53 is a passage to abide in.

Thank you for your encouragement. Lately I’ve begun to think that I must focus on the Gospel intentionally. I never thought of just bringing the Gospel as something I could do. Sharing my faith and encouraging people to have faith isn’t the same thing. The Gospel, and asking solid questions about the End of the Age is what my focus must be. So thank you, Jack, for helping me know I’m on the right track.
Maria

I am of the opinion it should not matter. We would like to see the fruit of ‘our’ report, we would like to see souls strengthened, we would like to see others brought to the Lord, but God gives the increase anyway, and it is His report.

However, it is our business to GIVE the report, in season, out of season, to give freely, and to testify of the grace of God. It is easy to get discouraged as many do in blogland, because there never seems to be the ‘right’ amount of buzz.

But there is always a silent majority who we never may hear from, that devours a particular writing or site, and is slowly being changed or helped in the things of God. Every so often, God sends a little bird with a whisper to remind us that the track we are on is good.

Amen, Jack! And before I go to meet the Lord, I want to obey Him in this, to not pay my way into His favor (FOOLISH FOOLISH!) but to please Him with employing the faith He gave me.
It is perhaps a God-given insight that you mentioned people who stop by and read without clicking “Like” or leaving a comment, but who may ultimately be changed (some plant, some water, but God gives the increase). The number of likes on a post doesn’t matter except to our egos. I’ve visited some blogs that show almost no response and I’m amazed that these brothers and sisters keep going.
God bless you for this encouragement to do God’s will! We will leave up to Him the results of our efforts,
Maria

‘HE shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied……….’ That’s good by me M. The Lord God is satisfied with the work of the Son, and equally satisfied with the fruit of His travail.

Like you pointed out, it is easy to get discouraged, I’m with ya, but we need only look at HOW and with WHOM it ends. Ever think about the very worst of storms? The next day is usually drop dead gorgeous……………..

Always appreciated the idea of ‘the root out of dry ground.’ ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ kind of thing. Pelicans are not found in the wilderness. Water is scarce or nowhere. Yet………..

We have the true Root, He who was before David, He who David came from, and He who came from David. Such is the exquisite narrative of scripture. So we read: I am the root and offspring of David, I am the bright and morning star.

And from this one root, springs hope eternal to whosoever will, and supplies water to they who have tasted. We love this root, this despised object of the world’s hatred!

Hi, Jack!
Albert Barnes wrote this in his Notes on the Bible about Is. 53, verse 2 (copied from my trusty e-sword software):
“It is, that the Messiah would spring up as from an ancient and decayed stock, like a tender shoot or sucker. He would be humble and unpretending in his origin, and would be such that they who had expected a splendid prince would be led to overlook and despise him.”
About those things from “Galiliee”:
1 Corinthians 1:28
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
God bless you, Jack, for your Godly insights!
Maria

Maria:
You must be a natural student of scripture, to take the time to look up a reference because of an idea by another.

Very cool, and that is a compliment as well. In any event event, God’s word is the well that never runs dry. Can I just add too that: ‘He took upon Himself ……..no reputation………………………….’ After all, does not man want a reputation?? Yep, but He who is highest of all became lowest of all……………………